HAL Food - What They Promise

[gentlemancruiser]

Vic & Doug,

I 've sail the QE2 and the food was excellent, but on the QM2 is was only average at best. There is a huge difference between the two ships, so don't worry.

 

"Now don't tell me it's gone downhill in 2 years ...

As I mentioned before (look above) the food on Cunard was better than what HAL offered on Oosterdam in Feb2005. A 1 month gap between those two voyages, so I very much remember the quality between the two."

[newmexicoNita]

There must have been at least 100 posts on this board last year talking about the cracked floors and poor condition of the Zuiderdam. Do a search and I am sure you will find them.

ok, I will buy that: I wasn't reading HAL as much last year as now. NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

In which restaurant?

 

This past January, the food was good (in Caronia), but with rather limited menu choice. I certainly wouldn't say it was bad - it was fine, just not really "special".

 

I thought the food aboard ROTTERDAM a few months earlier was really excellent, and considerably better than anything I'd had on a mass-market line in several years.Frankly, it was better than I expected from HAL.

 

 

It's pretty easy to see if the surfacing under the carpet isn't smooth.

 

The issue here is, for lack of a better word, "potholes" in the surfacing beneath the carpet.

 

This was a very well-documented issue with ZUIDERDAM that I believe was repaired in a recent drydock.

 

I sailed in ZUIDERDAM when she was a mere four months old and frankly, she wasn't in great condition then... Mostly because she had a lot of quality issues as delivered from the yard. I suspect she is better now.

 

 

I've seen some HAL cruises for around $450 per person for seven days, including port taxes. That's pretty "budget" to me... As low as any other mass-market line.

 

The truth is, HAL's price class depends greatly on destination and itinerary. Some of their Caribbean 7-day cruises are very cheap. Of course, the same goes for Celebrity. In reality they are both mass-market lines, perhaps excepting some of HAL's long cruises (World Cruises and Grand Voyages - which don't exist on Celebrity).

I am certainly not argueing where or not they run great specials, I am a TA and am aware of this. all lines do from time to time, my point was; the OP called it a family budget line: this is not the case. Of course they are a mass marketed line, this is one of my comparisons all the time: unless you move up to Oceana or higher they are all mass marketed. I still wouldn't put HAL or Celebrity is the budget catagory. NMNita

[dougnewmanatsea]

I was in Caronia as well. But each time I've been on that ship, I never had any problems with food in all restaurants.

I certainly wouldn't say "problems" - it was good, just not as good as what I had on HAL a few months earlier or Celebrity a few months later. (But Cunard's buffets were much better than Celebrity's.)

 

The only one where I'd say I had "problems" was Royal Caribbean. The others have all been quite good. But definitely some better than others.

 

Of course, food is extremely subjective. It is impossible to please everyone all the time in the food arena. I might rate Cunard higher if they had more appealing (to me) fish choices on my crossing.

 

There's no doubting the quality of the food that was served; I just didn't find it exciting. Very good, but not exciting. The quality was probably on par with HAL; I just wasn't thrilled with all the menu choices.

 

I really like Celebrity's dinner menus but then they don't serve Birchermuseli at breakfast which HAL and Cunard do. (Cunard's is better.)

 

What can I say; I'm grasping at straws here :) .

[scott in maine]

I really like Celebrity's dinner menus but then they don't serve Birchermuseli at breakfast which HAL and Cunard do. (Cunard's is better.)

 

Doug, with respect, X does, indeed, serve Birchermusli. In fact, our very first sailing on X was about 11 years ago on the baby Horizon. My mother was a long time fan of musli and was delighted to accidentally stumble upon it at the end of a buffet line on our first morning.

 

Since then, it has been one of the things we most look forward to on our sailings on X. In the past few years, we'd had four sailings on three of their ships in 3 different parts of the world and all had the very same wonderful Birchermusli. If one didn't know what one was looking for, I'll grant you that it might be hard to find. However, we knew precisely what to look for and zeroed right in on it. I'd love a bowl right now!!

[sarplum]

The food doesn't compare with the Noordam in jan. 1939. (yes, we are

one of those dreaded seniors). All I remember is my mother being

seasick and my father not missing a meal. Me? aLL I remember was

having a snowball fight on deck. It was great! How come HAL discontinued the snow?

[HeatherInFlorida]

............. How come HAL discontinued the snow?

 

In case you hadn't noticed, I love the way you think:) . You will note my signature and I gave credit where credit is due. Thank you.

[Giorgi-one]

I am certainly not argueing where or not they run great specials, I am a TA and am aware of this. all lines do from time to time, my point was; the OP called it a family budget line: this is not the case. Of course they are a mass marketed line, this is one of my comparisons all the time: unless you move up to Oceana or higher they are all mass marketed. I still wouldn't put HAL or Celebrity is the budget catagory. NMNita

 

You misread my post. I said the Zuiderdam was being sold a a low price family ship in the Caribbean. Prices were way lower the RCL or Princess during the summers of 2004 and 2005. That was the main reason we tried HAL.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Doug, with respect, X does, indeed, serve Birchermusli.

They do?

 

It don't think it was on the dining room breakfast menu this summer on ZENITH and I didn't see at the buffet. I guess either they discontinued it very recently, or I missed it somehow :o .

 

I really like Birchermuesli but it was not a big deal :) .

 

Cunard's is particularly good - HAL puts melon in it which I'm not especially fond of. I remember Cunard's as being thicker and less sweet. (But HAL's is good too.)

[Vic The Parrot]

They do?

 

It don't think it was on the dining room breakfast menu this summer on ZENITH and I didn't see at the buffet. I guess either they discontinued it very recently, or I missed it somehow :o .

 

 

 

You were probably still half-asleep. Like in my case, I need at least 2 cups of coffee before I venture out 1st thing in the morning.

 

;)

[Bramcruiser]

I partially agree with HoneyGV. Food is extremely subjective. Its all a matter of degrees of tastes. What's bland and unexciting to one might be fabulous to another. What is considered to be spicey and full of life is unbearable to another. Haven't been cruising long enough or on many lines to do comparisions but I thought Carnival served rather good food and we had a much better experience 11 years later on our HAL cruise. While I can see many saying HAL is rather bland I have to agree I won't touch anything too exotic and thus it works well for me.

 

Oh its so true about celebrated chefs too. Some are just far too popular. I've tasted some stuff that was just fabulous and others I couldn't understand what all the hype is all about.

 

As for Gordon Ramsey? Not impressed. I suspect one day they'll find his body laying on the cold floor of one of his restaurants while all the chefs and kitchen workers are working away and not one single witness! I can understand him being celebrated for his food but he's only a celebrity on TV for his abusive nature in front of the camera.

 

Home cooked meal? My own mother says this all the time "If the restaurant sign says Home Cooking just like Mom makes then it must be a bad place to eat!". Well, she's not that horrible but she's not Mother of the Year either. Some things I cook better and some she cooks better. Still I rather be on a cruise ship eating in a nice dining room.

 

So HAL might not be spectacular in a culinary sense but I place it as a rather good dining experience at this point in time anyway. I'll also take the dining room over the Lido anytime.

 

David

[MBeamTX]

I'd have to agree with Doug's and Giorgi-One's characterization of Zuiderdam. We sailed her in February 2003, when she was less than six months old, and were very surprised by how much wear and tear was already apparent.

 

I think many HAL fans were less than impressed with the very first of the Vista ships. Remember the dining room aft vibration controversy? Over the next year or two, HAL was charging considerably less for Zuiderdam than for their other ships in the Caribbean. It looked as if the less-than-ecstatic reception of the ship, plus HAL's move to try and attract family cruisers, equaled some cut-rate fares for a while.

 

I also suspect that HAL moved Zuiderdam to Alaska less to get away from hurricane weather than as a means of increasing the per diems she earns. It seems to me that the Alaska deployment was announced well before last year's awful hurricane season anyway, although I could be wrong about that.

 

Anyway, before I wander any more off topic - I'm happy to hear that others feel HAL's food continues to improve. We had good food on Westerdam (twice) and are really looking forward to experiencing Noordam.

 

Happy cruising,

Susan

[kryos]

Zuiderdam fares were among lowest in Caribbean during summers of 2005 and 2005. The ship was in very poor shape. Concrete floors under rugs were cracked with holes in several locations. Food was not very good and there were numerous physical problems. I was not the only one who reached this conclusion.

I haven't been on the Zuiderdam since summer 2004, but based on that experience, I personally would never sail the Vista class ships on seven-day itineraries again ... especially in the summertime. I agree with the poster who said basically that it was operated as a low budget family cruise ... because, based on the number of children I saw onboard, that's exactly what it was. The ship sailed that last week of August over its passenger capacity because just about every cabin had three or four people wedged into it. In fact, I think there was some sort of price special on that sailing for children sharing a cabin with their parents. As a result, the ship was a mob scene ... lines for absolutely everything. Since, I would imagine, food prep had to be snappy and quick to feed all those people, quality was definitely off. While I wouldn't call the food bad, I wouldn't call it good either. It was passable. And, of course the ship was showing signs of wear. When you have that many people onboard ... voyage after voyage ... many of them young children ... of course things are gonna get broken and worn out. That's just common sense.

 

I booked that Zuiderdam b2b as a result of a wonderful experience I had had on the Rotterdam the past March. I boarded the Zuiderdam that August looking for more of the same. I did NOT get it.

 

Now I only cruise the smaller HAL ships and I try to stay away from the seven-day itineraries that particularly appeal to families. I haven't had a bad experience since, and food quality has been top notch.

 

Let's face it. When you offer a cruise at bargain basement prices ... you're gonna get a lot of families. Oftentimes they book the cheapest accommodations and fill the cabin with the maximum number of people allowed. They have a wonderful cruise, because they're not looking for a dining experience much above Denny's. They just want a vacation for the family that will be reasonably fun, yet not break the bank. And ... after all, when you only pay about $2,000 for a family of four for seven days, what more can you possibly expect? Personally, I'd rather pay a bit more ... and travel on a sailing that's not being made particularly attractive (pricewise) to the family set.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

You misread my post. I said the Zuiderdam was being sold a a low price family ship in the Caribbean. Prices were way lower the RCL or Princess during the summers of 2004 and 2005. That was the main reason we tried HAL.

They have to be lower. Or else, how could HAL possibly compete against RCCL or Carnival for the family market? HAL doesn't have the ammenities for children that a big RCCL ship has. Naturally, the kids are gonna scream for RCCL with its rock wall, bungee trampolines and surfing pool. HAL doesn't have those things, and probably can't based on the design of their ships. So, to grab the family market away from those other lines, HAL competes solely on the basis of price. They simply undercut those lines. And, I'd be willing to bet that when you're looking at the young family market, a big motivation for them will be price and price alone. Many of those families are up to their ears in debt ... mortgage, car loans, etc. ... and if the vacation isn't relatively cheap, they won't be taking it ... plain and simple. So, HAL grabs them with some really nice prices ... and great specials for children sharing a cabin with two paying adults.

 

You can probably actually wind up with more kids per cabin on the HAL cruise than on the RCCL or Carnival one.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Giorgi-one]

They have to be lower. Or else, how could HAL possibly compete against RCCL or Carnival for the family market? HAL doesn't have the ammenities for children that a big RCCL ship has. Naturally, the kids are gonna scream for RCCL with its rock wall, bungee trampolines and surfing pool. HAL doesn't have those things, and probably can't based on the design of their ships. So, to grab the family market away from those other lines, HAL competes solely on the basis of price. They simply undercut those lines. And, I'd be willing to bet that when you're looking at the young family market, a big motivation for them will be price and price alone. Many of those families are up to their ears in debt ... mortgage, car loans, etc. ... and if the vacation isn't relatively cheap, they won't be taking it ... plain and simple. So, HAL grabs them with some really nice prices ... and great specials for children sharing a cabin with two paying adults.

 

You can probably actually wind up with more kids per cabin on the HAL cruise than on the RCCL or Carnival one.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

I agree with everything you said. It was cheap, there were lots of kids on the ship and the food was bad. Also, the experiment in the Caribbean must have failed, since HAL no longer has any ships in the Caribbean during the summer.

[trvlcarib]

Just back from the Zaandam (2nd time on HAL) and I can honestly say after 15 Celebrity cruises, HAL main dinner doesn't compare. On Celebrity you walk away after dinner and say wow that was good. On HAL, I don't have that many memories of their dinners. Now HAL Lido buffet beats Celebrity hands down. The biggest dissappointment on Zaandam was the size of the portions. I not one for a huge plate, but when they discribe whole beef tenderloin and you get 2 pieces that were tiny thats not good.

[trvlcarib]

Just back from the Zaandam (2nd time on HAL) and I can honestly say after 15 Celebrity cruises, HAL main dinner doesn't compare. On Celebrity you walk away after dinner and say wow that was good. On HAL, I don't have that many memories of their dinners. Now HAL Lido buffet beats Celebrity hands down. The biggest dissappointment on Zaandam was the size of the portions. I not one for a huge plate, but when they discribe whole beef tenderloin and you get 2 pieces that were tiny thats not good.

[trvlcarib]

Just back from the Zaandam (2nd time on HAL) and I can honestly say after 15 Celebrity cruises, HAL main dinner doesn't compare. On Celebrity you walk away after dinner and say wow that was good. On HAL, I don't have that many memories of their dinners. Now HAL Lido buffet beats Celebrity hands down. The biggest dissappointment on Zaandam was the size of the portions. I not one for a huge plate, but when they discribe whole beef tenderloin and you get 2 pieces that were tiny thats not good.